Skywalker Rising
by Zarkko
Summary: Tormented by visions of his traumatic future, Anakin Skywalker abandons the Jedi Order at a young age. Years later, he operates as a mercenary, selling his lightsaber to the highest bidder. He lives his life on the bloody edge, running from his fate. But he can't run forever, and eventually he will have to rise... or he will have to fall.


_Disclaimer: Star Wars and all related properties are owned by Disney. This work of fiction was made for my own enjoyment and not for monetary gain._

Skywalker Rising

By: Zarkko

Prologue

**_Coruscant_**

_'Anakin, you're breaking my heart!'_

_'I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HER FROM ME!'_

_'YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!'__  
><em>  
>Eighteen year old Anakin Skywalker woke with a quiet gasp. Blue eyes stared at the dingy ceiling of his hotel room. The last vestiges of his vision echoed in the corners of his mind. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and centered himself within the Force, feeling his heart beat calm. A soft moan came from next to him and he blinked, turning to the side and seeing a form buried beneath the covers. A very naked, very female form.<p>

_'Oh yeah,'_ he thought wryly _' her.'_ What was her name again? He furrowed his brows as he struggled with the recollection. Kara or something. Anakin shrugged, it didn't really matter in the long run. She was little more than an alibi, someone to say they had been with him all night, just in case.

Speaking of, he cast his gaze across the room to the holo-clock. _'Time to go to work'_ he thought to himself. Slipping out from underneath the covers, he crossed to the pile of clothes in the corner and shucked on his conspicuously dark clothing; pausing to remove his lightsaber from where it was hidden in his boot and stash it inside his black jacket. He stepped out into the cold night air of the undercity and took a deep breath, savoring the different tastes. He hadn't been to Coruscant in months, but it was definitely good to be back. It wouldn't be for long though.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets he started down the dirty streets, keeping his head low and skimming over the plan in his head. Minutes blurred together as the sounds of the Coruscant nightlife surrounded him in a cocoon of warm sound. Before long he found himself in front of one the towering skyscrapers that dominated Coruscant's cityscape. The words emblazoned in neon over the entrance identified it as Renner Inc. Anakin stood in front of the headquarters of one of the most powerful companies on this side of the galaxy.

* * *

><p>Renner Inc. was essentially a shipping company. Started almost 40 years ago, it had quickly grown enormously in size and profit, thanks in no small part to its silent partner; a Hutt named Jabba. Jabba had helped an enterprising young man from Onderon start the company with the promise that he could use it to enhance his smuggling operation. The young man, Kazlo Renner, was quick to agree. Using Jabba's connections he was able to secure prime contracts and his fledgling business profited immensely. It's quick rise to power was noticed and investigated by the Senate, of course. But the Hutts and their business partners were considered 'untouchable' for a reason. The Senate could do nothing but watch as the business became powerful enough that they couldn't go near it. And thus corruption and crime won another victory. Kazlo Renner was now one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. And tonight, Anakin was going to rob him blind.<p>

* * *

><p>Getting into the building had been pathetically easy. He had previously acquired some old blueprints of the building, and had been able to identify an old ventilation system that had never been torn out. They simply built in a new system when the old one failed. So when they did their security overhaul last year, they didn't bother to do anything with the old system, skipping right over it in fact. Which left Anakin a nice little opening to exploit.<p>

The vents were a tight fit and they were dusty as hell, but it beat trying to outsmart the building's state of the art security. Anakin grumbled unintelligibly to himself as he shuffled along. Just because it was the perfect flaw to exploit, didn't mean he had to enjoy it. Eventually he managed to navigate his way to a grate that connected to an elevator shaft. Squeezed in the vent, he looked at the grate and decided that it really wasn't worth being stealthy about it. He sucked in a breath, and blew out a sharp puff of air that was liberally force enhanced. With the sound of crunching metal the grate was torn from its place on the wall, and sent tumbling down the shaft. Anakin listened happily to the sound, taking a small, vindictive pleasure in it. He never did enjoy crawling through vents, despite how much his chosen profession required that he do just that.

Flipping onto his back, he gripped the top edge of the vent; and pulled himself out. His feet found purchase on one of the many metal struts that lined the shaft and he was able to turn himself so that his back was against the wall. Anakin took a deep breath, glad to be out of the stuffy vents. "Now for the fun part." He murmured. Taking another breath and holding it, he raised himself up onto his toes...and fell forward.

Anakin fell fast, the walls of the shaft appearing as little more than a dark grey blur. An excited grin spread over his face as he exhaled through his nose. _'This is awesome!'_ He shouted gleefully in his mind. Below him, a shape loomed out of the darkness, the elevator. Quickly righting himself in the air he curled his legs and concentrated, pulling the force around his legs. His landing on the elevator was not soft, but it caused him no harm. The elevator however groaned and shuddered in protest, the magnetic locks screeching as it slid down the shaft several feet. Anakin held his breath. When he was certain he wasn't going rocket to a gruesome death, he released it.

Taking a moment to let the adrenaline drain out of his body, he looked around. The building had a standard industrial elevator system. The shaft was around 8 by 8 feet. The elevator itself was a simple design, at least on the outside; it was propelled up and down by magnetic rails on either side of the shaft that connected to magnetic locks on the sides of the elevator. He quickly searched around the top of the elevator, looking for a maintenance hatch. He huffed irritably when he was unable to find one.

_'Alright, let's do this the hard way then.'_ he thought. He slipped the gleaming silver hilt of his lightsaber out of his jacket and thumbed the activation switch. With a _snap-hiss_ a royal blue blade sprung from the hilt. The softly humming weapon cast an ominous blue glow on the dark walls of the shaft.

Flipping the hilt around into a backhanded grip, he plunged it down into the elevator and proceeded to cut himself an opening. Squinting his eyes to avoid the sparks, he worked his blade in a large circle that fell into the dark interior of the elevator. A second later Anakin followed after it. With his lightsaber providing illumination, Anakin cast an appraising eye on his surroundings. The inside of the elevator was overly lavish, the walls adorned with red carpet and gold embroidery. Lying on the floor was the large, circular section of the ceiling he had cut out, the edges softly glowing orange. Turning to the panel, he tapped out the code given to him by his client. With a soft hum the elevator powered up, the overhead light flickering on and the panel lighting up.

Anakin grinned and switched off his lightsaber. Quickly punching in a second code, the elevator started up on an express trip to the top floor. Anakin watched as the numbers on the display jumped. He took a moment to appreciate the help he had received from his client. Usually they just gave him an order and a deadline, offering very little in the way of help. His current client was a...refreshing change of pace. He smiled to himself; it really was to be expected. The woman did have a lot riding on this, after all.

With a soft ding, the elevator doors slid open. Anakin stepped to the side, pressing himself into the corner of the elevator. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Plunging himself headfirst into the living force, he was able to get a clear view of his surroundings without exposing himself. And his caution paid off. The elevator opened to a single hallway that ran straight for almost 40 feet and ended in a pair of lavish double doors. A droid paced slowly in front of the door. Anakin noted that it wasn't one of the standard security droids positioned in the unrestricted sections of the building, rather it seemed to be a custom made battle droid. This really wasn't surprising when he thought about it. Security droids needed to be requisitioned from the security company, and Kazlo could hardly call them up and ask for a droid to guard his secret office on the secret floor that he'd had secretly added onto the building. He was, after all, trying to maintain the appearance of legitimacy.

The elevator doors closed but Anakin barely noticed. He stood completely still, continuing his observation of the droid. It paced the width of the hallway about half a dozen feet from the doors to the office. Anakin considered his options. He knew that the moment he poked his head he would be seen, and the walls of the hall were flat, no places to duck behind. And while he'd heard stories of Jedi who could use the force to cloak themselves from sight, Anakin himself had no knowledge of the ability. Which was a shame, because that sounded awesome. Suddenly, the droid stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to the doors. Anakin focused his attention on it and noticed that was scanning the doors. After about thirty seconds it pulled back and resumed its pacing. _'I see. It stops periodically to scan the electronic locks and make sure they haven't been tampered with. Clever.'_ Anakin grinned to himself. Unfortunately for them, that gave him just the opening he needed.

He took a deep breath and when he exhaled it carried with all of his emotions and errant thoughts. He repeated this over and over again, each time clearing his mind further. He kept an eye on the droid and when it turned to the locks, he moved. He opened his eyes and palmed the keypad, opening the elevator doors. He turned and took a step out of the elevator, raising his hand as he did so. With a concentrated effort, a bolt of ionized force energy leapt from his hand; the lightning-like energy arced across the breadth of the hall and scored into the droids back. It seized up, sparks firing from its joints.

Anakin tensed and exploded into motion, sprinting down the hall. With his speed enhanced by the Force, he crossed the 40 feet in just under ten seconds. He slid to a stop just behind the stunned machine, exhaling a powerful breath as he did so. Knowing he had only seconds before the battle droid regained functionality, Anakin had to work fast. He pushed the droids head forward and slipped two fingers beneath its head plate. He groped blindly for a second before he found the clutch of wires he was looking for. _'There!' _He thought victoriously. He hooked his fingers around the wires and pulled them free of their socket. A spark lit up inside the helm and scalded his fingers. He pulled them free with a pained yelp. "Ouch!" Anakin glowered at the back of the droids head as he sucked on his red fingers. "Bastard." He muttered petulantly.

The machine came alive with a sudden lurch, its eyes shining brightly as it ran a systems check. Anakin stilled, slipping his lightsaber into his hand. The droids eyes began to flash steadily. After almost a full minute of silence a mechanical voice echoed from the machine.

/Catastrophic system failure detected. Visual and auditory capabilities negative. Activating diagnostics and self repair./

There was another moment of silence.

/Self repair impossible. Commencing automatic shutdown for maintenance./

Anakin grinned to himself and slipped around the droid, making his way to the door. He slipped a communicator from his pocket and dialed in the right frequency. He pulled the ear piece free of the device and put it in his right ear, slipping the communicator back into his jacket. He heard static for a moment, but then it cleared and a sensual female voice rang out._ "Anakin? Are you in position?"_

Anakin frowned and didn't answer.

"_Anakin?"_

He stayed silent, still frowning. The woman was quiet for a moment and then she sighed audibly.

"_Unbelievable." _ She muttered and then cleared her throat. When she spoke again it was with an overly exasperated tone of voice. _"Are you there, __**Captain**__?" _

Anakin grinned happily. Damn that never got old to hear. "Why yes I am, first mate!" He answered cheerfully.

"_Don't call me that." _She answered immediately. Anakin could actually hear the scowl on her face.

"Whatever you say Ves. I'm in position."

"_Good. How's the lock look?"_

Anakin tilted his head and squinted his eyes, examining the security pad. "Horrifically complicated." He said at last.

Ves sighed again. _"Alright," _she said _"Plug me in."_

Anakin fished a small holo-pad out of his jacket and fit it snugly over the lock. He tapped a few things out on the screen and then stepped back. "Alright it's done. You in?"

"_Yeah, give me a minute to unlock it."_ The screen flashed green and then an endless scroll of code began running across it. Anakin groaned and hung his head back, staring at the ceiling. Absentmindedly he began to hum, the soft tune echoing in the hall.

"_What is that?" _Ves asked, her voice oddly soft over the communicator. Anakin stopped humming to answer her. "It's a lullaby my mother used to sing." He said. _"Oh. It's beautiful." _She was quiet after that. "Yeah," Anakin muttered, swallowing back old heart ache, "It is."

There was silence for another moment, and then the holo-pad lit up green. _"Got it!" _Ves said triumphantly. "That's my girl." Anakin said, pulling the pad off the lock just as the doors slid open. "You're an angel," he praised, "I'll call when I'm done."

"_All right, be careful."_

"I always am."

Ves snorted but didn't reply, closing the comm channel. Anakin stepped inside the spacious office, letting the doors close behind him. He gave himself a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dark. When he could finally see again, he swept his gaze across the room, snorting in disgust. It was as he expected, horribly extravagant and screaming with the overindulgence of a man with entirely too much money.

Spread across the office were large glass display cases filled with various undoubtedly expensive knick knacks. The walls were covered in priceless paintings, including one of the Jedi Temple lit up by a sunrise coming up over the city. It was really quite beautiful and Anakin made a mental note to take it with him when he left.

To his right was a large, ornate desk illuminated by the city lights spilling in through the floor to ceiling windows that made up the wall behind it. Anakin made his way over, sitting down in the uncomfortable high backed chair and started up the console, wincing briefly from the glare of the bright holographic display. "Okay." He muttered to himself. "Here we go."

His fingers danced over the keypad, swiftly navigating through the many programs and files, quickly finding the one he was instructed to look for. He opened the application and input the login and password he was given by his employer. The display flashed green and he was into the secure server. He slipped a small hard drive from his pocket and plugged it into a small slot on the surface of the console. He tapped out a few more keys and sat back in the chair, watching with a satisfied smile as the program automatically siphoned billions of credits into a private account.

"God I love my job."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Two hours<em>_ later_**

Anakin sat on the ledge of an industrial high-rise, idly kicking his feet as he watched the sun begin to rise, spilling orange and blue across the sky like liquid fire. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the cleanness of the air provided by his altitude.

His quiet was interrupted as a sleek black shuttle with blacked out windows rose from behind the building across from him and glided over him to land on the roof to his back. He spun around to face them as the shuttle door rose open, spilling several figures in black suits onto the roof. Anakin raised a single brow. _'Quite a few thugs for one little hand off.' _He noted, shifting slightly to ensure he could reach for his saber faster than they could go for the blasters they were undoubtedly carrying.

He gave no other hint of his sudden tenseness, instead flashing the approaching men a smile. "Mornin' boys!" He called cheerfully. "Looking to be a helluva day, don'tcha think?" One of the men, their leader apparently, stepped forward. He was a big guy with broad shoulders and close cropped black hair and sunglasses. "Do you have it?" He asked brusquely. Anakin let the smile fall away from his face. "Not much for niceties, are you?" He asked, dropping the cheerful act.

The big guy, who Anakin had already labeled 'Dumbo' in his head, let a frown twist his face. "I asked you a question!"

Anakin sighed, "Yeah I got it." He fished the hard drive out of his pocket and held it up. "The account number, password and transfer codes are all in here." Dumbo made to grab for it but the ex-Jedi pulled his hand back. "Not so fast." He chided. "I believe you have something for me?"

Dumbo frowned harder but snapped his fingers, summoning one of his henchmen to his side. Said henchmen hefted a large silver case in his hands, opening it up and turning it to face Anakin, allowing him to see the small console within. "Input the account number where you would like the payment transferred." Dumbo grunted.

Anakin stepped up and did just that, making sure to keep his senses open and scanning. While the force didn't allow him to read their minds, he could read their intentions, hopefully giving him a second of warning if they tried to attack him. After a moment a small window flashed up on the display. 'Funds Transferred.' It said.

The henchman stepped back, closing the case as Dumbo stepped forward. "Now for your end." He sneered. Anakin held up a hand. "Just a moment." He said, pressing a finger to his ear piece and patching into a communication line.

"Ves, you there?"

_"I'm here."_ She answered quickly.

"We get it?" He asked pointedly. While bantering with his strict partner was always fun, now was not the time.

_"Oh yeah."_ She purred. _"We're all set."_

Anakin grinned. "Beautiful." He said. "I'll be back at the ship in a few hours. Get her ready."

_"You got it, Captain. Ves out."_

Anakin turned to Dumbo and held out the hard drive. "**Now **for my end." He said, still grinning.

Dumbo narrowed his beady eyes and snatched the drive out of his hand. "Let's go!" He barked to his fellows, turning on his hell and heading back to the shuttle.

"Give my best to Mrs. Renner!" Anakin called out cheerfully, enjoying the way Dumbo's stride briefly faltered. He settled back onto the ledge as they piled into the shuttle and it took off, disappearing back into the busy traffic of Coruscant.

* * *

><p>Anakin made his way back to his hotel, needing to at least make a token appearance for his 'alibi'. He stepped into the room to find her just getting out of bed, a thin sheet wrapped around her nude form. She turned to look at him in surprise, before smiling brightly. "Good morning." She said easily. Anakin let the door close behind him and flashed a smile of his own, racking his memory for her name. "Morning…." He trailed off.<p>

She just shot him an exasperated look. "Kara." She supplied helpfully.

"I knew that." Anakin said quickly, shooting her a devil may care grin. Kara smiled smugly. "Of course you did. So where did you go?"

Anakin held up a small white package. "Went to get some smokes." He lied easily. "But I do have to get going."

Kara eyed him amusedly. "Oh really. So you don't have time…" She dropped the sheet. "… for a shower?"

Anakin gave her form a long look. "Well..." He drawled. "If you insist." Surely Ves wouldn't be too mad if he was a little late, would she? Kara turned and made her way into the bathroom, throwing a sultry smile over her shoulder at him. Anakin shucked his jacket off, following her with a hungry grin.

'_Man, I __**really**__ love my job!'_

Ignored by both of them, Anakin's jacket landed on the bed, his lightsaber and a rolled up painting tucked safely inside.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : I'm alive! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Ahem* Sorry. So yes, I am officially back and writing again. That means you can expect the next chapters of The Timekeepers and Wild Magic within a few weeks. As for this little gem, it's not really a priority. It's something I had sitting around that I finished up just to get back in the swing of things. So I have no idea when I'll update it next. If you like it, great. If you don't... well... fuck you too. **


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